[Bob Cole]

If you have Adobe CS3 or CS4 with Adobe Flash, File/Export/Quicktime Conversion gives you a Flash option.

Didn’t know about the H264 being renamed as .flv. Very interesting; maybe I’m too conservative but that hits me as potentially causing a problem down the line.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Did you get one? Do you like it?

It seems like a great idea, but that seems like an exorbitant amount of money for a little piece of rubber. And if you pan your camera using the tripod’s pan handle, you don’t need it.

Even so, hats off to the inventor(s).

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[Tim Wilson] “[Kai Cheong] “Funny you’d mention badminton”

I used to snicker at badminton”

Me too. Until I started playing with a club, and realized that one game of indoor badminton took as much out of me as a set of tennis. And that was when I was playing with the senior citizens in the club.

It’s a great, low-impact (usually) sport. The best part of it is that you can play at as low or as high a level as your ability and commitment allow. In international play, the feathered “bird” reaches speeds of 200 mph.

And it’s fun.

Back more directly to the health issue: this has been covered extensively elsewhere on the COW, but standing up even while doing desk work or editing helps tremendously.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

It’s time-consuming, but you might try contacting more agents and more i.p. attorneys. There are many lawyers with great experience in how insurance policies actually work, and it’s tricky. There are outstanding people in the insurance business, but there are also, as you have discovered, lazy and ignorant agents as well. I know a couple great agents, and they are worth the search.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Most purchases provide immediate feedback. You buy the apple, you eat the apple. It tastes good – or not. If it’s lousy, you’ve at least learned something, and you haven’t lost your ability to eat another apple. Insurance might be the only thing we buy which lacks feedback until it’s too late, sometimes disastrously so.

So I don’t fault you, as some others seem to have, for using the word “scam,” because it can certainly seem that way. (The health care debate has uncovered many stories of people whose policies didn’t cover what they had expected them to.)

This thread has been interesting, but has not touched on how E&O policies have performed in action. It would be good to hear some factual cases. I suspect, however, that many people involved in settling a dispute have had to sign an agreement restricting his/her freedom to discuss it.

The biggest problem is getting insurance that actually covers what you need. A good agent who really knows the territory would be a valuable asset in your search for appropriate insurance. Walter made a good point about the agent who took the trouble to visit his place of business. You might also want to consult an attorney who specializes in intellectual property for a recommendation.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[Tim Wilson] “Great point! I’d add squats to the list – but that’s really it. Skip leg presses (no need if you’re doing squats), curls (you don’t need those muscles to be any stronger than they already are), bench press (ditto), and all the others. Squat, deadlift, chins.”

Tim, a great idea for an article: interview an exercise expert who can give some guidance geared to this business — both the editors who sit all day and the production folks who have to lift heavy stuff.

Sport recommendation, and don’t jeer: indoor badminton. Like squash or racquetball, it’s a real workout, but cheaper and not quite as bald-faced aggressive.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Not to beat a dead horse, Shane, but are you saying that by using the SDI signal through the HD Connect, I won’t have those timecode gaps in capture, and I’ll no longer have to wait for that endless deck shuttling as the machine attempts to capture around the timecode gaps?

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[David Roth Weiss] “It’s very much like people who claim to drive cars for years without changing the oil.”

David, are you telling me that I need to change the OIL?????

(My wife’s girlfriend drove her new Camaro, including several cross-country trips, for several years, before she ever heard about oil changes.)

[Bob Cole]

[David Roth Weiss] “who still remains shocked ever since you confided that you have never ever cloned your system drive”

Huh? I’ve done it — way too rarely, of course. When I upgrade to SL, I’ll be doing the regular Time Capsule/CCC routine: Time Capsule backups every day, system drive clones once a week or so.

But reliability is still crucial; even losing a morning’s work would stink.

Thanks for the recommendation. I should have said that I was thinking of getting more like 500 gb for the system drive.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[Winston A. Cely] “I, for one, am planning on getting a brand spanking new 10k RPM drive (Western Digital Raptor), to install everything from the ground up in my Mac Pro”

This sounds like a great idea.

Winston, how did you select this drive? Reliability is of course even more important than speed (though 10k sounds great). I’ve looked at the customer reviews on NewEgg, but that isn’t too helpful because every single drive seems to have failed at some point. I’ve googled this, and been disappointed by the survey sites.

So, are there GENERAL rules of thumb for HD reliability, e.g. number of platters, heat generation, size, speed?

At any rate, upping the capacity and speed of my system drive would take a lot of the pain out of doing a proper shift to Snow Leopard, as Dr. Weiss would approve.

Bob C